Month: June 2001

U.S. to South Africa: Give Us Our Space Junk Back

Maybe it’s just me, but if I dumped my garbage on my neighbor’s lawn, I think I would be in a pretty lousy negotiating position to demand that he return something valuable that I accidentally tossed in there. And yet the United States is demanding that South Africa return three pieces of space debris that crashed outside Cape Town last year.

The South Africans have apparently put the debris in a museum which has been a popular attraction for children in that country. Given the state of American courts, I say we just thank our lucky stars they’re not suing us and let the South Africans keep our space junk.

Former Employee Makes Allegations Against Human Society of the United States

The April 2001 issue of Animal People contains a story detailing charges against two high level employees of the Humane Society of the United States. A former employee claims she was fired by HSUS for questioning the use of the non-profit’s resources to apparently aid in the management of a for-profit business.

Former HSUS Legal-Exectuvie Secretary/Office Manager Nancy E. Dayton claims that HSUS president Paul Irwin fired her after she complained about what she believed were extensive and unaccounted excess benefit transactions by HSUS general counsel and vice president Roger A. Kindler and HSUS senior counsel Murdaugh Stuart Madden.

Kindler and Madden jointly do business as the law firm of Murdaugh Stuart Madden and Roger A. Kindler which handles cases in the area of tax-exempt law, trusts, wills, and other matters.

In a formal complaint to the Internal Revenue Service, Dayton alleges,

I have witnessed Roger Kindler[‘s] use of the following HSUS resources for private profit and personal gain: office space and meeting room with a prestigious business address; support staff time and services including receptionist, secretarial, accounting, runner/messenger, legal publications filing; computers, printers, copier, facsimile machine; computer software programs; office supplies; storage facilities; mailroom staff time and services; Internet access. Murdaugh Madden enjoys the same benefits.

The allegation that the duo utilize office space of the nonprofit is interesting, since Animal People reports that HSUS’ most recent IRS Form 990 filed on June 28, 2000 reports that the nonprofit received $607,231 in rental income in the previous fiscal year but doesn’t list where that rental income came from.

This is not the first time that the HSUS has been accused of illegally mixing its nonprofit ventures with private financial transactions. In the late 1980s HSUS actually bought President Emeritus John L. Hoyt’s house for $310,000, but allowed him to continue to live there rent free until critics began making a fuss. In another action designed to benefit the animals, HSUS provided the financing for Irwin to purchase beach front property in Maine during the same period.

And, of course, there was also the HSUS scandal involving their former vice president of investigations, David Willis, who was fired from HSUS for embezzling at least $93,000 from the organization.

In fact, with assets approaching $40 million, it sometimes appears that HSUS is less interested in animal rights than in making a quick buck. Animal People passed along a hilarious contradiction from the group that was originally dug up by The Whole Dog Journal. In a June 2000 edition of its e-mail newsletter, “Humane Lines,” HSUS denounced an experiment to use shock collars to condition wolves to avoid livestock. But at the same time, HSUS endorsed the PetSafe Radio Fence shock collar. Why? Because they get a small royalty from the manufacturer in exchange for their endorsement.

Source:

IRS probes alleged self-dealing by Humane Society of the U.S. Lawyers. Animal People, April 2001, p.12.

Sweden Wants European Union Animal Welfare Office

On May 29, Sweden requested that the European Union create a single animal welfare authority that would be able to set animal policies for the entire EU.

Swedish Agricultural Minister Margareta Winberg told an EU conference that, “Animals are sentient beings with an intrinsic worth,” and that what she called short-term economic objectives shouldn’t be pursued at the cost of mistreating animals.

“A Swedish answer to these important questions is that we need an animal ombudsman or an animal welfare authority” to protect animals’ rights as well as promote awareness of animal issues.

Source:

Sweden puts animal rights on the political map. Agence-France Presse, May 29, 2001.

WNBA Tries Marketing to Lesbians

In a move unprecedented in professional sports, the Women’s National Basketball Association is explicitly reaching out to the lesbian community to try to increase both ticket sales and television ratings. The Los Angeles Sparks recently participated in a rally and market promotion at a West Hollywood lesbian bar, the Girl Club.

Last year the WNBA’s Seattle Storm featured a controversial Gay Pride Night event, but this year the league seems to be taking the homosexual community more seriously as a market, with reports that marketing to the lesbian community was a major issue at a recent league meeting.

About to begin its fifth year, the WNBA has begun to see its popularity stagnate. Average attendance at games has stalled at a mere 9,100 and last year its TV ratings on NBC earned only a 1.4 share. It is true that this is a higher share than the NHL on ABC or even women’s college basketball on CBS, but the WNBA doesn’t have the sort of competition from other sports events that the NHL and women’s college basketball have. The bottom line, however, is still that the WNBA has yet to turn a profit.

Some marketers believe that the gay community is a promising demographic for sports teams. As Howard Buford, CEO of New York-based advertising agency Prime Access, told ESPN, “Many of these households don’t have children and thus there’s a higher dispensable income, especially for entertainment. In addition, there’s a higher amount of dispensable time that is available. It’s the perfect fit and is one of the reasons sports is so attractive to the gay community.”

The fear and the risk of such promotions, however, are the possibilities that more conservative fans who disapprove of homosexuality will stay away from the league because of its outreach efforts. Personally, I can see how that might have been an issue 15 or 20 years ago, but that sort of reaction is becoming increasingly irrelevant. This is a very smart move by the WNBA which really does nothing more than acknowledge what has been widely known about the WNBA for the past couple years — a large number of its fans are lesbians. Big deal.

Source:

A coming-out party for professional sports. Wayne Drehs, Espn.Com, May 24, 2001.

Ark Trust Genesis Awards

Ark Trust recently announced the winners of its Fifteenth Annual Genesis Awards, given to individuals and programs in the media that further the cause of animal rights. The award show aired on May 12 and May 13 on Animal Planet.

From an Ark Trust press release announcing the winners,

“Politically Incorrect” won in the Outstanding Television Talk Show category for fearlessly dissecting the arguments of those who defend Hunting, declaring that animals’ right to live supersedes a dying child’s wish to kill. The discussion followed a policy change by the |Make A Wish Foundation| that denies last wishes involving firearms.

“I thank you all for having me, for giving me this, for noticing, for joining in,” said “Politically Incorrect” host and Executive Producer [Bill] Maher upon accepting his award. “The animals are the most innocent, most speechless, most defenseless creatures and they deserve a mean, take-no-prisoners son-of-a-bitch like me talking for them.”

The Make A Wish Foundation caved into activists a couple years ago in announcing it would no longer consider requests from young people for hunting trips. Philosophically the argument offered by Maher and others makes no sense unless they also are going to start targeting the Make A Wish Foundation for paying for meals for dying kids that include meat — does an animals right to live supersedes a dying child’s wish to have a hamburger at McDonald’s?

And, of course, Maher and other activists are on record as opposing the sort of ongoing animal research aimed at the treatment and prevention of the diseases that are killing these kids in the first place. Maher’s view is closer to saying that a child’s right to live does not supersede an animals right to live.

As with most animal rights “victories,” by the way, their conquering of the Make A Wish Foundation really didn’t amount to much. Ted Nugent and other hunters quickly set up the Hunt of a Lifetime Foundation to specifically fulfill hunting wishes of dying children, and the Safari Club International stepped in to pay for the costs of a bear hunting trip for Erick Ness whose requested started the controversy (hunters in Minnesota raised the $18,000 necessary in three days).

Source:

Genesis Awards Celebrates 11 Years on TV!. Ark Trust, Press Release, March 10, 2001.

PETA: A Boy Is A Dog Is A Fish

Over the past month or so People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been trying to buy billboard space for its new anti-fishing campaign, which features a picture of a dog Photoshopped to look as if it has been captured on a fish hook (PETA has a JPEG version of the billboard here).

In its anti-fishing propaganda, PETA endorses a twist on an old animal rights saying. According to PETA, “When it comes to feelings, a boy is a dog is a fish.” In fact, PETA quotes marine biologist Sylvia Earle as imputing individual personality to fish.

A fish is not a fish is not a fish. They are all different as individuals. Like all Labrador retrievers have certain waggly tail kinds of characteristics that identify them as Labrador retrievers, but every one is different. Some are more shy, some are more aggressive, some are more curious. Some kinds of fish, like groupers, have a particular kind of personality that makes it very tough to eat fish once you’ve gotten to know them on a one to one basis. I certainly don’t eat anyone I know personally anymore.

Earle is a well respected scientist, but perhaps the thousands of hours she’s spent underwater are beginning to cloud her judgment a bit. I wonder if she would go as far as PETA does in its literature when it claims that, “Bass and basset hounds, cods and collies, all animals treasure their lives and feel pain.”

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not fish feel pain, claiming that a dog treasures its life is an absurd claim that is supportable only through the most extreme form of anthropomorphizing animals.

Source:

Why do we throw a frisbee to some animals and a barbed hook to others?. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Fact Sheet, 2001.